403 Forbidden

Indian diplomats in the U.S. must abide by our laws

UW Professor Aseem Prakash’s viewpoint, in his guest column concerning the arrest in December in New York of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade [“Devyani Khobragade arrest created a U.S.-India rift,” Opinion, Jan. 29], is absolutely correct. My reaction to the original news was, “Big mistake. Badly mishandled.”

The U.S. State Department should apologize. That said, there is the other side of the coin, too. The government of India should positively make it clear, in advance, to all of its diplomats in the U.S. that they must abide by our minimum-wage laws while in residence here.

Our minimum wage is nothing to rise from poverty with, but anything less must be known to make the life of “the household help” of foreign diplomats here even harder.

Perhaps the accustomed gap between the governing class and “the help” is greater in India than our own regrettable gap in many cases. Or, if Indian Diplomats aren’t themselves paid sufficiently to live in decent comfort here, then their pay should be increased.

Welcome to The Seattle Times' online letters to the editor, a sampling of readers' opinions. Join the conversation by commenting on these letters or send your own letter of up to 200 words letters@seattletimes.com.